This invention is a method and apparatus to detect and treat neovascular membranes in the ocular vasculature of the fundus of the eye. It is related to U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,447 to Bernard F. Hochheimer and the present inventor and entitled "Simultaneous Angiography of the Separate Retinal and Choroidal Circulations". According to this patent, simultaneous angiography of the separate retinal and choroidal circulations of the human eye is accomplished following a single intravenous injection of a mixture of at least two dyes having differing spectral characteristics. In a preferred embodiment of the patent, a single injection of a mixture of sodium fluorescein and indocyanine green dyes is administered intravenously to the subject. Angiograms of the separate retinal and choroidal circulations are then taken simultaneously with a fundus camera modified to separate the electromagnetic radiation emanating from the eye which is respectively attributable to the sodium fluorescein dye and to the indocyanine green dye.
This patent also disclosed a fundus camera system similar to that used in the present invention.
A scientific article entitled "An Image Processing Approach to Characterizing Choroidal Blood Flow", Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Vol. 31, No. 4, April, 1990 by G. J. Klein, R. H. Baumgartner and R. W. Flower, the present inventor, discusses the use of indocyanine green (ICG) dye angiography in the study of choroidal blood flow in the human eye using angiographic image processing algorithms.
A second scientific article entitled "Pulsatile Flow in the Choroidal Circulation: A Preliminary Investigation" Eye, (1990) 4, 310-318 by R. W. Flower and G. J. Klein, also discusses the computer aided image analysis of ICG choroidal angiography.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,652 relates to ophthalmic equipment for angiographic examination of the eye.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,783 discloses a fundus camera for performing fluorescein angiography of the eye. It incorporates a barrier filter seated in the imaging optical path and an exciter positioned in the illuminating optical path.